We are both regular pioneers from England and I am serving as an elder. Our first assignment to serve where the need is greater outside of England was in Brazil.
However, let us give you some background information about how we reached our goal of serving where the need is greater.
Childhood dream
Our service to Jehovah started a long time ago in Ramsgate congregation in Kent, England. Sandra was born in 1957 and I was born in 1973. Sandra's parents were Bill and Trudy Gapper who had been in Ramsgate congregation since the 1960's. My parents, David and Margaret Kerry were baptized in 1969. Therefore we had an upbringing in the truth from childhood.
When I was a child, I had read an experience in the publications about pioneers serving on boats on the Amazon. The experiences made a lasting impression on my mind and I grew up wanting to be a missionary doing the same thing. Both our parents were good examples in preaching and were zealous. However, our goals drifted over the years and we did not pursue this dream until more recently.
Learning a Foreign Language
It was a circuit assembly talk that discussed ways that we can expand our ministry. In 2005 the branch in England were providing 5 month language courses in different regions to help witnesses expand their ministry by preaching to foreigners. There were 4 languages at the time being offered and we applied to go on the Portuguese course. We waited several months before we received confirmation that we had been accepted on the next course.
With eager anticipation we attended the class in November 2005 in Maidstone, Kent, England. There were 16 in our class, mostly pioneers. At the time, there was a small group of Portuguese brothers attached to an English congregation there. Our instructor, Duarte Rodrigues, had recently completed an instructors course by the branch to teach the language to the class. Duarte is a very dynamic brother and a fantastic teacher, very clear when he speaks which is ideal for the student to learn. We had never spoken Portuguese before but during the 5 months, we learnt the structure of the language and many theocratic words and phrases.
After prayerful consideration, about halfway through the class, Sandra and I decided we wanted to pursue our service in the foreign language field and decided that we would move to support the group in Maidstone. Our class graduated in April 2006. In December 2006, the group became a congregation. The territory was quite extensive as it basically covered the county of Kent which has approximately 1.7 million inhabitants.
Supporting a Portuguese congregation in England
The experience we gained serving in the Portuguese congregation was invaluable. We learnt that it is not just the language that we had to learn but also the culture. Most of the brothers in the congregation were from Portugal but a couple were born in Mozambique and Angola. The love and patience of the brothers helped us to adapt over time. There were many challenges, and sometimes we felt like giving up. Serving in a foreign language congregation is tiring as you are concentrating more, preparing extra for the meetings and travelling long distance to the meetings and ministry. However, each time we felt exhausted and down, something would happen that revived our zeal and looking back, we are happy that we did not give up.
Our plans to serve in a different country - Phase 1
Over the following years, the congregation grew and had 6 elders ( 4 Portuguese and 2 English, including myself) and several pioneers. In 2011, after having many encouraging reminders at assemblies and in the publications about serving where the need is greater, I asked Sandra if she would be willing to serve in a different country. She quickly said that her heart was with me and wherever I wanted to go she would be happy. She used the example of Ruth and Naomi in the Bible. I am forever grateful for the willing and self-sacrificing attitude of Sandra. Without the loving support of Sandra, we would not be able to pursue our goals.
We prayerfully considered serving in a different country. We started to research Portuguese speaking countries using the yearbooks, CD ROM, internet and also speaking with brothers from those countries. After narrowing down our options, we decided to focus on Angola. We knew the need in Angola was great and that there are many areas that are not worked regularly and a large amount of bible studies.
We spoke to a sister in the congregation whose mother lived in an area of Angola where there was a need. There was an opportunity for us to live with the family. However we then heard that there were some complications with visas with some brothers that had gone to serve in Angola. Also with national elections coming up, which previously had caused violent struggles in the country, we decided it best not to go at that time.
For a few months, we continued serving in the Portuguese congregation without actively pursuing our goal to serve overseas. Then one day, for no apparent reason, we realized that we were not opening all the doors of opportunity for Jehovah to bless. What about the other Portuguese speaking countries? Why restrict it to just the language that we had been learning? Had we simplified our lives enough to be ready to go and serve with no distractions? The answer was no we hadn't!
Our plans to serve in a different country - Phase 2
This moment of realization triggered us into a different mode of activity. We put together a specific plan and daily prayed for guidance. We decided to focus on Brazil. We found out very specific things i.e. cost of living, visa requirements, climate, health issues, vaccinations etc. At the same time we concentrated on selling material things that we had. We did not own a house and so we were renting a property. Our life style was already quite basic as pioneers and so we looked at any ways we could simplify even further. When we thought that we had simplified our lives fully, something would happen where we realised that we could still simplify even more. This happened about 4 times until we were at a stage where we could not simplify anymore. We had in the meantime moved into my fathers house to save on rent and be ready to go overseas.
During this time, we spoke with our circuit overseer who is Brazilian. Hilton and his wife Gina provided good advice for us to consider in serving in Brazil. The brothers in the Portuguese congregation also helped and obviously they had all gained experience in moving to a foreign land, England. Although they had moved to England for work, they gave many practical ways of adapting to customs and other things.
We sent a letter to the branch in Brazil through our service committee. We explained our desire to serve where the need is greater in Brazil and details of our experience, age, health and other things. We received 2 documents back, one a general guidance letter about serving in Brazil, the other with specific contact details and congregations that needed help. We were given 3 options of where to go, 2 in the North East and 1 in North Brazil. We were surprised as we thought that we may be asked to go to the south where the climate is slightly more friendly, as the branch knew we were from England, where the temperature is a lot lower than Brazil. We were also excited.
We emailed the 3 coordinators in those congregations. We requested specific information about the needs in each congregation and territory and also a list of practical questions about living costs and other practical things.
Upon receiving the 3 replies, we then had another challenge: how to choose where to go! The needs were all unique and it was difficult to decide. There was no right or wrong decision! Again, prayer was essential in guiding us. After several emails to the coordinators, we chose Bela Vista Portuguese congregation in Boa Vista, Roraima, North Brazil.
During this time, we had been selling any last material possessions that we could. These included furniture, music equipment and even very low cost items that we originally thought would not be worth selling. We went through many different emotions. There were many memories attached to some things and each time we sold something, we realized that we were heading firmly in one direction. There was no turning back! We also have a cat, Billy, who is 11 years old and we had grown attached to over the years. Any readers with pets will understand the feelings we had when considering who could look after him and also the possibility of not seeing him again.
Final preparations
When we reached this point in our final preparations, we needed to confirm what we were going to do in 6 months time. The maximum visa length (excluding work visas) is 6 months out of any 12 month period. We had already decided that we would renew our first 3 month visa with another 3 month visas, back to back, to give 6 month continuous stay in North Brazil. We had not been able to confirm any other longer term option from England. We found it very difficult to get this information remotely and knew that we would have to wait until we got to Brazil before getting accurate details of work options. Unfortunately, the information on certain official websites is not accurate.
We knew that we would have to book return flights as there was a possibility that we would have to return to England in 6 months. However we booked the return tickets with a flexible date in case we wanted to change the date in the future.
Once we had confirmed flight times, we also made sure that we had all the vaccinations and other medical things in place. There are many things to consider when packing to serve overseas. Obviously the weight restrictions for your luggage and also any restrictions on what items you can take into a different country. We may add a page to this blog at a later date listing the things that we found we needed to include in our preparations to live overseas.
With our final preparations completed, we were ready to go! The Portuguese congregation in Maidstone gave us a surprise party which was fantastic! They put a lot of effort into preparing various short plays and sketches to 'prepare' us for our new assignment.
On 5th June 2013, we flew out from Heathrow airport, London on a 27 hour journey to reach our assignment in North Brazil. We had finally achieved the goal of going to serve where the need is greater! However, that is where this blog begins. Please read the other pages starting at 'June 2013 - Brasil' to see how we settled into our new assignment in North Brazil.
Thank you for reading this page. We welcome any comments that you have.
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